Motorola ekes out 2Q profit, beats forecast

Motorola Inc squeezed out a small profit in the second quarter and exceeded sales projections on continuing strength in the company's home and networks mobility as well as enterprise mobility solutions divisions even as the communications equipment maker appears to be moving towards stemming its market share loss in the handset business.

The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company said it earned $4 millions in the three months ended June 28 on revenue of $8.1 billion compared with a net loss of $28 million on revenue of $8.7 billion in the comparable quarter of 2007.

Analysts had projected the company would record a net loss of 3 cents a share for the quarter while revenue was forecast to be approximately $7.7 billion.

"Motorola's Home and Networks Mobility and Enterprise Mobility Solutions segments delivered strong results in the second quarter, driven by sales growth and operating margin expansion," said Greg Brown, Motorola's president and CEO in a statement. "In the Mobile Devices segment, we launched ten new products and maintained market share."

Motorola's mobile devices division, the company's biggest unit by sales, reported revenue of $3.3 billion for the second quarter, a 22 percent drop from the year-ago quarter. The division's operating loss also rose to $346 million versus $332 million for the second quarter of 2007.

The division shipped 28 million handsets during the recently ended quarter, according to Motorola.